Wild Thing: The Sixties DVD Jukebox (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Introduction Custom Play Informational Subtitles-Pop-Up Info
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	59:54
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Classic Pictures Stomp Visual	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	None Given

    This is a series of 20 black and white film clips of various bands from the 1960s. There are some famous names here: as well as The Who and The Beach Boys we have The Nice (featuring Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer), The Easybeats, Procul Harum, Status Quo, Fleetwood Mac, Manfred Mann and many others.

    Most of the clips seem to be from the same source (probably a TV show), as they have a common look and feel to them, but I have not been able to determine that source. Apart from the two The Who clips, they all seem to be miming to recordings.

    If the music of the later 1960s is your thing, then this is pretty impressive stuff. Some of the songs were familiar to me, but some I had not heard before. I enjoyed watching and listening to this more than I expected to.

Video

    The clips are presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, being from TV broadcasts.

    All are in black and white and of varying levels of sharpness. In general, the image is slightly fuzzy. There is a graininess to the video which I did not find distracting due to the age of the material. Blacks are not deep black and whites are really just light greys. The Fleetwood Mac clip for example has the contrast set too high, so that detail is lost in wide shots - the performers' faces become white blobs.

    The major artefact present is in the form of analogue tape tracking errors, which occur from time to time in the form of horizontal lines which appear very briefly.

    This is a dual layered disc, but I did not detect a layer change. There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc. There is a DTS 5.1 track, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I listened to both.

    I could not discern any differences between these two audio tracks. Both are well mastered and the music comes across clearly, at approximately CD quality. The only disappointment I have is that no mono or stereo mix was included, as none of these clips would have been recorded in surround.

    The audio is very good, with clear and crisp sound. The surround mixes both have some instruments coming from the rear channels as well as the mains, and the effect is surprisingly convincing. Voices tend to come from the front soundstage and the audio is well spread across the three front channels. The subwoofer is merely used for bass emphasis, and there is no audio solely directed to the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

    This is a one minute long series of excerpts from the clips on this disc, with graphics to identify the performers, and with music from the main programme.

Custom Play

    A juke box menu is included. You can select up to ten tracks from the disc and specify the order to play them in. This would be handy if your DVD player does not have this feature.

Informational Subtitles-Pop-Up Info

    Selection of this option displays an overlay on each track, and scrolling subtitles give information about the performers, the music being played and what happened to the participants. This is a pretty good idea and makes for a nice and useful extra.

    The Region 1 release seems to be identical, so this is a draw.

    This is a nice selection of music from the second half of the 1960s, and if the content is attractive I think you will not be disappointed.

    The video quality is pretty good considering the age of the material.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The extras are better than other discs I have reviewed in this series.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall